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The Carbon Power Plant, once a coal-fired workhorse in PacifiCorp's electrical-generating fleet, is becoming a mound of scrap as crews this week dismantle the 62-year-old two-unit plant in Price Canyon, a few miles outside Helper. The utility retired the 173-megawatt plant a few years early in April 2015 because of the high cost of bringing it into compliance with new mercury-emission rules.

The site just east of U.S. Highway 6 will be cleared by next spring, then it will be reclaimed.

"All of the materials will be recycled, including the boiler and the rest of the infrastructure. Our goal is to bring the site back to natural conditions as much as possible," said PacifiCorp spokesman Paul Murphy.

Most of the plant's 120 employees were offered jobs at PacifiCorp's other plants in nearby Emery County, while many others remained at Carbon to work on the decommissioning.